Practicing statistics requires knowing various statistical methods
but this is not enough. In practice, statisticians have to be good
listeners to understand what data related problems and projects are
about; they have to be good organizers to ensure effective and efficient
statistical support; the also have to be good communicators because
understanding what data and model mean is not easy for most people; and
last but not least, they have to be good colleagues with whom the other
people involved in the projects enjoy working.

Ordinary
statistics courses deal with mathematical and statistical methodology
and the use of statistical software. This course deals with the other
subjects. In ordinary statistical courses, methods are developed and
then applied to suitable examples; in this course, fresh problems will
be explored and these problems and their context will determine which
methods could be used. These will be real-world problems with real
clients and you will have to listen, explore, ask, listen again,
analyze, model, explain, write, and present. The objective will be to
create value for the client by gaining a deeper understanding about the
processes and patterns which gave rise to the data or by finding ways to
obtain data which can help with this.

Over the two terms of
this course, you will learn about some basic consulting skills, work on a
toy problem, and then you will go through two full projects, one from
late October until mid December and the other from late February until
April. Besides learning how to tacke these projects, you will also learn
about professional topics such as planning, estimating the workload,
data ethics, and how to earn a living by practicing statistics.